With World Cup 2015 a distinct possibility after Nepal’s surging climb to the World Cup Qualifiers from Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3, the foundations for similar prospects are being laid at Nepal’s National Cricket Academy. The current generation of successful cricketers are inspiring and coaching the next.

U-12s and U-16s have been monitored and assessed since February in a new coaching program set up at the NCA. Around 500 took part in the U-12 School Cricket Program, reports the Cricket Association of Nepal, and from them 33 have been selected for further coaching which will start in September. 58 students took part in the U-16/’Talent hunt for SLC appeared students’ over 40 days since April, and from those an 18-member NCA Youth Squad has been selected. The NCA is also reported to have provided full scholarships to 34 students in three prominent colleges of Kathmandu.

The achievements of the successful candidates were recognised in a season-closing ceremony attended by officials from the Cricket Association of Nepal.

If youth bursts through at all levels, “these kinds of programs help to grow a cricket culture, and with all the dedication of the coaches, many of them former national cricketers, there is a good chance that the success of the 2012 and 2013 players can be carried on for the next ten and twenty years,” says ACC Development Officer for Nepal Rumesh Ratnayake. “In sport there are no guarantees but one thing’s for sure, if these kinds of sustained investments in young cricketers are not made, there is far less chance of any achievement,” adds the former Sri Lankan international.